


Claim of Title in Adverse Possession

by p_o_u_n_c_e_r



Series: Lady Alys's In-Basket [3]
Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Etiquette, Relationship Advice, protocol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 04:21:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10677579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/p_o_u_n_c_e_r/pseuds/p_o_u_n_c_e_r
Summary: New technology brings new questions on intra-family relationships and nomenclature.





	Claim of Title in Adverse Possession

Dear Lady Alys,  
  
My elderly uncle the Count Vor-XXX recently remarried. He and my step-aunt have commissioned an heir via uterine replicator. My own presumptive claim to our District's Countship as his eldest male relative in our family succession is therefore -- no longer a reasonable presumption.

I can gracefully resign myself to the loss of power, wealth, influence, status and use of the family's menagerie, including rides on the elephant. I am, however, still somewhat miffed about the impending loss of my accustomed title.

Am I to be demoted from being addressed as Lord Vor-XXX as soon as the little --- legitimate son --- is decanted from his bottle? May I use the title for the years until the Council of Counts confirms my successor? May I properly continue to use my title even after such confirmation, if purely socially? I have after all enjoyed possession of that title for many decades. Am I justified in the feeling that I retain a claim, if on no other basis, by a form of squatter's rights?

If not, is the surrender of my half-boxes of remaining calling cards, note paper, and envelopes bearing the name Lord Vor-xxx, sufficient christening gift for my new cousin, or must I buy him a rattle, too? (I agree to remove it from the donor snake...) Please suggest how I may seem to remain polite, and not gauche, in such an awkward contretemps.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Many, but not all, of Alys's correspondents are identifiable from canonical descriptions of their situations. Redacted names nevertheless conform to the procedures of the Imperial Residence's Office of Protocol,


End file.
